The wait is over! We have reached a tentative contract agreement with the Department of Education that recognizes the hard work that we do every day in the classroom and restores the dignity of our profession after years of abuse.

It is a contract for educators but, of equal importance, it is also a contract for education that will not only benefit us but also the students, schools and communities we serve.

Working in partnership with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Fariña, we now have the opportunity to rebuild our city's school system with educators — not bureaucrats or consultants — in the driver's seat. Our agreement is the product of a shared belief that it is our school communities that must be the agents of change and that, when we educators are empowered to use our professional expertise, we can solve our common challenges and develop new ways to improve outcomes for our students.

Our proposed agreement, which is pending Municipal Labor Committee approval and ratification by the membership, includes the pay increases we deserve after working for five years without a contract — without a single raise. Over the life of this nine-year pact, which runs through October 2018, UFT members will receive an 18 percent raise, full retroactivity as well as a $1,000 signing bonus upon ratification.This agreement addresses members' two critical priorities: fixing the teacher evaluation system and reducing unnecessary paperwork.

It makes teacher evaluations simpler and fairer. The union won major changes, including a focus on eight instead of 22 Danielson components and a better system for rating teachers in non-tested subjects. We succeeded in eliminating time-consuming teaching artifacts. Moving forward, fellow educators — rather than consultants or other third parties — will serve as the "validators" brought in the next year to review the work of a teacher rated ineffective.

New rules will significantly reduce unnecessary and duplicative paperwork, both written and electronic.Finally, the agreement gives educators more time to carry out their professional responsibilities without adding any new time to the work day. The 150 minutes of extended time can be reconfigured in a variety of ways to build in more time for professional work, professional development and parent engagement.New teacher leadership positions, with extra pay, will foster idea-sharing by allowing exemplary teachers to remain teachers while extending their reach to help others.

Under the tentative deal, collaborative school communities will have new opportunities to innovate outside the confines of the UFT contract and DOE regulations. A new program known as Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence (PROSE) will give educators in participating schools greater voice in decision-making and a chance to experiment with new strategies.

The proposed agreement also obligates the DOE to provide educators in core subjects with appropriate curriculum, something which we have long fought for.

Go to our special UFT.org contract section for more details » Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Fariña are committed to returning joy to New York City's classrooms and respect to its educators. We could not have struck this agreement with the prior administration.Months ago, when we first began negotiations with the new administration, we set out to build an agreement that moves both our profession and our schools forward. This contract achieves both goals.

It will finally allow us to focus on what's truly important: the students inside our classrooms.On behalf of our entire negotiating team, I thank you for your patience and support.Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew

I wanted to give you fuller details about the pay component of the proposed contract.

Our pay chart shows you when the new pay increases and the retroactive rate increases take effect as well as when you will receive lump-sum retroactive payments. For veteran teachers, the retroactive payments will total more than $40,000.

We were able to negotiate the wage increases in this package — including the two 4 percent increases that the previous administration had insisted that the city could never afford — through stretching out how the retroactive raises are being paid.

Be assured that all members will receive every penny that they have earned since Nov. 1, 2009 as long as they are in-service, have retired since that date or are planning to retire in the future.

I also wanted to let you know that we are a step closer to the municipal unions' approval of the health care savings program that is part of our proposed contract. Since the savings program affects all city workers, the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group representing New York City's 350,000 municipal workers, must approve it.

We are confident that we will meet the savings targets set in this program by delivering health care more efficiently and streamlining the administration of benefits for all city workers. Your co-pays and other upfront health care costs should not increase. We would not make these changes with the previous administration because of the former mayor's utter disrespect for city workers and their unions.

The 22 municipal union leaders of the MLC’s steering committee voted overwhelmingly on Friday morning to pass the savings program. We are confident that the entire MLC will ratify the program on Monday. Later that day, after it has been ratified, I will share the details with you.

We will continue to provide more information about the proposed contract, including sample salary charts and answers to frequently asked questions, on the UFT website as we produce it.

We as educators can all be proud of this landmark contract. It will move our schools forward — and provides the bread-and-butter pay increases and benefits that you deserve for dedicating your lives to our city's children.Sincerely,

Michael Mulgrew